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WSF World Doubles: Top Seeds Seal Semi Spots

4 Aug 2017

Men’s top seeds and defending champions Clyne & Lobban of Scotland continued their stellar run on day three of the WSF World Doubles Championships, dispatching Welsh duo [7] Creed & Makin in straight games, 11/4, 11/7 (37m) to advance to tomorrow’s semi-finals.

"We played good doubles in the first game, moving them around and controlling things," said Clyne. "The second was a bit messy, but we worked well together to get through. It's good to get another two-nil win under our belts."

"It was a bit of an unknown quantity playing the Dutch dark horses," said Pilley. "We needed to stay sharp and try to control things and that's what we did."

English duo [5] James & Willstrop got the better of Aussies [3] Palmer & Alexander in an entertaining 77-minute thriller, the longest of the tournament so far - 11/10, 6/11, 11/9 (77m).

“My partner played brilliantly tonight,” Willstrop, 33, said. “He had to put up with a lot of striking down the backhand side and you don’t get the rewards straight away in doubles and you have to have the mental strength to keep going and know that the momentum can swing in your favour in the match.

“I had complete confidence in Dec tonight, it was coming on to his forehand a lot and he handled it.”

Meanwhile, in the women’s draw, defending champions and top seeds King & Landers-Murphy of New Zealand despatched Welsh duo [7] Evans & Saffery in straight games, 11/9, 11/8 (38m). They’ll meet familiar foes in Australia’s [3] Grinham & Urquhart who got the better of three close games against England’s Massaro & Perry, just falling short of a comeback as they lost the first 10/11, then coming from 2-6 down to take the decider 11/9.

"It was all Rachael today," said Urquhart. "It was her type of crosscourt game and she played really well to get us back into it in the third."

England’s [5] Duncalf & Waters advanced to the last four of the women’s draw after their Malaysian opponents, [6] Arnold & David, withdrew with injury.

“It's never the way you want to win," said Duncalf, "but we're delighted to be in the semis."